Page 22 of Dark Princess Emerging

The sound of a bedsheet rustling had Ell-rom on his feet instantly.

"Jasmine?" He took her hand. "Morelle is here, my love. Would you like to meet her?"

Jasmine's fingers twitched in his grasp, her head turned slightly, and then her eyelids fluttered.

This time, when they opened, her gaze was clearer than before. She looked first at Ell-rom, a small smile forming on her lips. Then she shifted her gaze to look at Morelle.

"Hi," she managed, her voice still rough.

"Hello, Jasmine." Morelle rose to her feet and smiled at his mate. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person."

As Ell-rom watched his sister and his mate meeting for the first time, his heart was so full that it felt like it might burst. His two worlds, past and present, old family and new, were finally coming together.

14

ANNANI

Annani lay sprawled across her bed, staring at the ceiling as her mind raced with questions about Morelle's newfound ability to nullify powers. She needed to talk to her grandmother about it, and she would do so as soon as Aru called.

Ogidu sat at her desk, waiting for the conversation to begin so he could write down notes. Tomorrow, Syssi would go over them and add them to the growing stack of transcribed conversations between Annani and the queen of Anumati.

Getting Ogidu to do that was a good solution that freed Syssi from coming over each night to take the notes herself. It had become too much of a burden, and when Annani suggested that Ogidu take over, Syssi was relieved. The Odu transcribed everything faithfully and accurately.

When her phone rang, Annani answered using the speaker function so her Odu could hear Aru clearly. "Hello, Aru. I am ready."

"Hello, Clan Mother. Aria and I are ready, too."

"Grandmother," she greeted formally through the twins' link. "I hope I find you well."

"My dear one," Aru said, somehow conveying the regal tone of Queen Ani's mental message communicated to him through his sister. "I am well. And you?"

"I am well, thank you. I have updates about Morelle. Today, we tested her abilities, and we discovered that she is a null. She can disable the paranormal abilities of others. So far, she was able to stop the mate of my son from guessing coin tosses, another member of my clan from using her power to blow up a glass container, block an empath from feeling the emotions of others, and prevent a god from compelling an immortal. Are you aware of any such abilities among the gods on Anumati?"

"Ah, yes," Queen Ani said after a pause. "The Nulls. They were rare, and they were eliminated during the early purges. Your grandfather saw them as a threat. A null could theoretically neutralize even his powers. He made up some reason for hunting them down. I do not remember what it was. El can be very inventive and very convincing."

Annani absorbed the information and thought of Morelle. "Were they considered dangerous?"

"Naturally, but the truth is that I do not know much about that ability. I have never encountered one of them, and as you know, our written records cannot be trusted. El has them altered according to his whims."

That was a shame, but perhaps some of what had been written about them could be of use.

"I wish to understand how their power worked so I can help Morelle. According to those written records, did they need to be aware of the ability they were nullifying?"

"Please remember not to put too much trust in what I will tell you because the information is not reliable. If I cannot verify it myself or get a firsthand report from a trustworthy source, I treat our records as fiction. The way the story goes, the ability varied from god to god, and it was believed that they could create general dampening fields that affected everyone around them, rendering them helpless."

"I can see how that could have been perceived as dangerous." Annani filed away this information for Amanda's research. "Were they born with this ability, or did it develop over time?"

"They were born with it, of course, but it usually manifested in response to a trigger, either stress or necessity or both. I wonder what triggered it for Morelle. Was she harassed in the temple she grew up in?"

"Yes, but I do not think it was overly traumatic. She has a very strong personality."

"Obviously. She is my granddaughter."

Annani stifled a chuckle. "Ell-rom has a much mellower personality."

On the other hand, he could kill with a thought, so that evened out the playing field between the twins, but her grandmother did not know that.

"Yes, so you have told me. I hope he finds his strength. Has he manifested any talents yet?"